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I don't know the answer to this. Nor do you. - especially since there are NO absolutes.
Most evidence doesn't seem to support that they don't act on it. There is the idea that if animals are to advance beyond who they are they must demonstrate some sort of loving kindness to others so they would have to have some impulses not to act on.

So even though you or I do not KNOW the answer to this, you ARE very right about your point.
Very g

I do know that animals have impulses they don't act on, because I see it every day in my animals. They think about what they can and can't get away with when I'm around, for example. Two of my dogs don't like it when the youngest dog comes over and sits on them; one of them growls; the other wants to growl, but knows he's not supposed to, so he doesn't.

I also see animals demonstrate "loving kindness" to others all the time (to me, to other animals, etc.). When one of my dogs is feeling poorly, the othe

Yep, animals can and do choose to suppress their impulses. Our dog only steals the cat's food when we're not in sight; I'm sure his impulse is to take it when we're there too.

"What separates man from the animals" may be an impossible-to-define concept like Artificial Intelligence. Every time you come up with a definition, someone can come up with counter-examples; nonetheless you are sure that the phrase you are trying to define really is meaningful in some way.

Yep, animals can and do choose to suppress their impulses. Our dog only steals the cat's food when we're not in sight; I'm sure his impulse is to take it when we're there too.
But is that a suppression of impulse or a suppression of action on an impulse?

"What separates man from the animals" may be an impossible-to-define concept like Artificial Intelligence. Every time you come up with a definition, someone can come up with counter-examples; nonetheless you are sure that the phrase you are trying to def

One of the more interesting notions I'd seen was a gentleman who was developing parasitic artificial life forms. Things that would feed off technologically mundane objects such as lampposts and what-have-you; he had four or five designs for lamppost-bugs. I can't remember the link; I know he was linked by the folks who were informally building enormous destructive robots years before Battlebots.